Don Chareunsy

This weekend is one of the most important of the year for fans of Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters, Wake Up Call, Starbucks and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, as Sunday is National Coffee Day.

Sorry, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” fans: Michelle Visage is not the emcee of the “Werq the World Tour” this time around.

It’s been a great run for drag queens on television and in everyday life in recent years. “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” first on Logo, then VH1, is the reigning Emmy Award champion in the competition program category four years running. Ditto for its host, RuPaul Charles, who is now tied with Jeff Probst (“Survivor”) for most wins as a reality-TV competition ringleader.

Even though we’re not in the homeland of Germany, Oktoberfest celebrations will live on all weekend long at CenterPlace Regional Event Center in Spokane Valley. The fifth-annual Spokane Oktoberfest will feature all things Bavarian with food and beverages (Paulaner and brats), entertainment, two stages, indoor and outdoor events and games and free parking.

Ramen Burgers aren’t new. I first ate the menu item – where bread buns are replaced by two ramen buns – at chef Joseph Elevado’s Andrea’s in Encore Las Vegas six years ago.

Episode two of the new Season 28 of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” features the first elimination on Monday night.

Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly” is the story of Cio-Cio San, a geisha known as Madame Butterfly, and Lt. Pinkerton, a U.S. Naval officer with whom Butterfly has a contracted marriage (“Cio-Cio San” is from the Japanese word for butterfly). Inland Northwest Opera is presenting “Madame Butterfly” on Friday and Sunday at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox.

One of the fascinating aspects of Inland Northwest Opera’s “Madame Butterfly,” at Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox on Friday and Sunday, is that the set is made of paper. Stage director Fenlon Lamb, a friendly and outgoing former opera singer and actress who now directs and produces productions, discussed the paper by design on Tuesday afternoon inside the theater.

The light went out for chef David Adlard’s Candle in the Woods in Athol about two years ago. Adlard was operating out of his home, initially as a bed and breakfast, and expanded to dinner service, as guests had nowhere nearby to go.

Moving is difficult – duh, right? – but beyond the challenges of physically transporting your home from one place to another, a few aspects of relocating to a new city that are sometimes overlooked are the loneliness, loss of community and the unknown of a new city.

Canadian jazz singer-songwriter and pianist Diana Krall – dressed in black boots, black pants and a rock-star black leather jacket with noise-making accoutrements – strolled onstage Monday night at 7:40 at the First Interstate Center for the Arts with her four-man band for their “Turn Up the Quiet” world tour stop.

Canadian vocal group the Tenors – Clifton Murray, Fraser Walters and Victor Micallef – are bringing their award-winning harmonies, charisma and showmanship – with a holiday twist – to the Bing Crosby Theater in a stop on their “Wonder of Christmas” tour on Nov. 30.

With all the peace and quiet around me, I took it upon myself to enjoy a sugar rush – everything in moderation, of course – and checked out two new businesses and a new dessert menu in the Spokane area. My sister Michelle Harmon, a teacher in Spokane, joined me for the first two stops.

No tea, no shade, but shantay, they’re staying! Fresh on the heels of a “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World Tour 2019” date at Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox on Sept. 29, it was announced Saturday that “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!” will hit the stage at Flamingo Las Vegas starting in January.

Jazz musicians and London regulars Frankie and Tom Magnuson are back in Spokane, and the son-and-father music duo are performing Sunday at the Benefit Gala for Peace & Friendship in support of the Buddhist Institute of Universal Compassion. The Magnuson men are part of the contemporary London jazz scene – with Frankie Magnuson on keyboards and Tom Magnuson on drums – and their sound has been described as commandingly cool smooth jazz.

Spokane has received some love for its burgeoning craft beer scene, as Men’s Journal has included Steam Plant Brewing Company in downtown on the magazine’s new list titled “The 10 Coolest Places to Drink Craft Beer.”

Shenandoah, whose current lineup is Marty Raybon, Mike McGuire, Travis Mobley, Brad Benge, Jamie Michael and Donnie Allen, is headlining the 2019 Spokane County Interstate Fair in Spokane Valley on Monday with another longtime country group, Restless Heart.

After an especially challenging week at work, Walla Walla was just what the doctor ordered. The two-truck caravan included my sister, brother-in-law, niece, 12, and nephew, 8, in one Toyota Tundra (white), and two good friends and yours truly in the second Toyota Tundra (gray).

There are a number of reasons to be happy about Happy Hour. The workday is over. It’s time to gather with friends. Why not over food and drinks that are discounted in price? And, most of the time, Happy Hour extends beyond only an hour. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, right?

It’s truly farm to door, and it’s to the benefit of local farmers and vendors and a convenience for customers. Share Farm, by local entrepreneurs Vince Peak and Eric Kobe and chef and restaurateur Adam Hegsted, was launched in July after Peak and Kobe created the Share Farm app last fall and soft launched it.

Are you the next Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry or Adam Lambert? Now’s your chance as “American Idol” open-call auditions stop in Spokane at the Davenport Grand Hotel, 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., on Sunday, Sept. 8.

I woke up this morning thinking about – and even smelling … OK, not really – chicken sandwiches because the Twitter-verse has run a-fowl – get it? – over the Great Chicken Sandwich Feud. The sources of my chicken sandwich cravings … I mean thoughts … on this Hump Day morning: Mashable and CNN.

A beloved bakery in the Whitworth University neighborhood of north Spokane has shuttered its doors. A post on Petit Chat Village Bakery’s Facebook page Aug. 10 made the closing official.